The invention relates to an improvement of a clamp for holding an elongated article having a linear shape, a bar shape or a tubular shape at an intermediate portion thereof.
Conventionally, a clamp for holding an elongated article includes an insertion concave portion for receiving the elongated article and elastic stop members projecting toward a bottom of the insertion concave portion. The elastic stop members hold the elongated article at lower ends of the elastic stop members with elastic force, as the elongated article is inserted in the insertion concave portion.
In the clamp of this type, it is required to easily insert the elongated article into the insertion concave portion (small insertion force), and to hardly extract the elongated article from the insertion concave portion (large extraction force).
When the elastic stop member has a small dimension along a longitudinal direction of the elongated article, the insertion force can be reduced. However, since the lower end of the elastic stop member contacting the elongated article becomes shorter, it is difficult to increase the extraction force.
In a case that the elastic stop member is divided, the insertion force can be reduced, and, at the same time, a whole length of the lower ends of the elastic stop members (a total length of the lower ends of the respective divided elastic stop members) contacting the elongated article can be made longer. In this case, the total length of the lower ends essentially becomes shorter due to a space between the adjacent elastic stop members as compared to a non-divided elastic stop member. In this case, however, the respective divided elastic stop members need to have uniform rigidity. Otherwise, it is difficult to hold the elongated article stably.
In view of the above problems, the present invention has been made, and an object of the invention is to provide a clamp in which a lower end of an elastic stop member for holding the elongated article has a sufficient length, while an elongated article is inserted into the clamp portion with a minimum force.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
In order to attain the above object, according to the first aspect of the invention, a clamp for holding an elongated article includes at least one clamp portion having an insertion concave portion for receiving the elongated article and at least one elastic stop member. The insertion concave portion has a pair of sidewalls along a longitudinal direction of the elongated article to be inserted. The elastic stop member has an upper end integrally joined to an upper portion of the sidewall constituting the insertion concave portion, and projects diagonally downward toward a bottom of the insertion concave portion. The clamp portion holds the elongated article such that a lower end, of the elastic stop member elastically holds the elongated article at an insertion position under the lower end of the elastic stop member.
Further, at least one space is formed at a joining portion of the upper end of the elastic stop member and the sidewall, so that a total length of the joining portion as a bending center of the elastic stop member along the longitudinal direction of the elongated article becomes smaller than a total length of the lower end of the elastic stop member along the longitudinal direction of the elongated article.
With the structure described above, it is easy to bend the elastic stop member when the elongated article is inserted into the insertion concave portion. At the same time, in the state where the elongated article is completely inserted into the insertion concave portion and the elastic stop member is repelled so that the elongated article is held by the lower end thereof, the lower end of the elastic stop member has a long contact length relative to the elongated article. In other words, in the clamp of the invention, the elongated article can be held with a greater force while it is possible to insert the elongated article into the clamp portion with a smaller force.
According to the second aspect of the invention, the clamp for holding the elongated article according to the first aspect includes an attaching portion with respect to an object to be attached.
With the structure described above, the clamp is attached to the object using the attaching portion while the clamp portion holds the elongated article so that the elongated article can be attached to the object.
According to the third aspect of the invention, the clamp for holding the elongated article according to the first aspect includes more than two clamp portions disposed in parallel.
With the structure described above, the clamp can hold more than two elongated articles in a state that the elongated articles are bundled. Also, the respective elongated articles can be positioned at predetermined positions relative to each other.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, in the clamp for holding the elongated article according to any one of the first to third aspects, a plurality of the elastic stop members is integrated with both of the sidewalls. Further, at lease one space is formed at a joining portion between at least one of the pair of the sidewalls and the upper end of the elastic stop member.
With the structure described above, it is easy to bend the elastic stop members due to the space when the elongated article is inserted into the insertion concave portion, resulting in a smaller insertion force. At the same time, when the elongated article is completely inserted into the insertion concave portion, the lower ends of the elastic stop members hold the elongated article securely.
According to the fifth aspect, in the clamp for holding an elongated article according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, more than two elastic stop members with a space therebetween are provided in a longitudinal direction of the elongated article. At least one of the elastic stop members has an end portion at a level different from those of the other elastic stop members.
With the structure described above, it is possible to hold a plurality of the elongated articles having different diameters. More specifically, the elastic stop member having the lower end located at a lower level toward the bottom of the insertion concave portion holds the elongated article having a smaller diameter. The elastic stop member having the lower end located at a higher level holds the elongated article having a larger diameter.
According to the sixth aspect of the invention, in the clamp for holding the elongated article according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the space is formed of a notch portion provided at the joining portion of the upper end of the elastic stop member and the sidewall.
With the structure described above, the total length of the joining portion as a bending center of the elastic stop member along the longitudinal direction of the elongated article can be made shorter than that of the lower end of the elastic stop member along the longitudinal direction of the elongated article.
According to the seventh aspect of the invention, in the clamp for holding the elongated article according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the space is formed at upper portions of a connection member connecting the lower ends of the elastic stop members.
With the structure described above, through the elastic stop members and the connection member, a total length of the joining portion as a bending center of the elastic stop members along the longitudinal direction of the elongated article can be made shorter than that of the lower ends of the elastic stop members along the longitudinal direction of the elongated article.
Especially, each of the elastic stop members can be bent independently. Thus, it is possible to reduce the force for inserting the elongated article into the insertion concave portion. At the same time, the connection member or the lower ends of the elastic stop members effectively prevent the elongated article from moving out.